The duck

Fourteen eggs. That's all I have to say.

The Saga of a Duck Part- Tre

So the story continues with our nice friends and neighbors visiting us on Sunday. Robert, Emily, and their daughter, Avery come by the house and feed our "mommy duck." I feel slightly guilty as I haven't offered this little mother to be the slightest scrap of food. Natalie watched as Robert fed her and sure enough, we feed her once a day now too. She is shedding feathers on top of the eggs so we have no idea how many eggs there are. A lot is my best guess. Far more then the baby I'm carrying. Of course mommy duck will be done raising these babies by the time I birth mine so maybe a lot isn't so bad for her after all. Anyways, here is a video of Natalie feeding her tonight. Mommy duck still chirps at me, glares at me, and can make me feel a bit uneasy. All who know me know that I'm not a fan of anything with wings. I think she has sensed this about me. But, little Natalie, well she'll just eat out of Natalie's hand...

The yucky bug...

Chris usually has Thursdays off from the church. We call this "Daddy, Natalie day." Last Thursday, Chris brings Natalie to our room and says, "I think we have a sick one." Little did we know what this weekend would bring. She had the stomach bug and was sick all day Thursday. She would say she was going to "choke" again and he went running. I took Friday off with her and she appeared some better, but still not well.

Saturday Chris wakes up with half the bug, he was "choking" but he was not well. Natalie wasn't well yet either. So day two of taking care of her and day one of taking care of him. Sunday morning, Natalie wakes at 5:30 with lots of stuff in her pull up. I'm thinking, "seriously?" Then at 7 she throws up again. She looks at me with sad, sad, eyes and says, "mommy, will you take me to the doctor so he can make me better?" I told her that since she was going on day four, she had earned herself a trip. I called the doctor and they saw her. Basically I had done everything wrong for her on Saturday. I'd given her chicken noodle soup, let her have some water, let her eat some pasta, (I thought she was better.) The nurse and doc told me soup is bad for the stomach bug. We went on the brat diet with both Daddy and Natalie. Chris was on day two of being sick and wasn't any better. I'm thinking, what happened to the 24 hour bug?

Yesterday was a hard day. Natale wanted to be carried so much that my back still hurts. Chris was miserable. Natalie was not well. Then, Natalie's toilet wouldn't flush. We didn't have a plunger, because we hadn't needed one yet. So, I leave my husband propped up in the living room by the recliner and a blanket, Dora on the TV, hoping Natalie won't move or need anything and race to Target. Purchased said plunger and back to the house. Fun times.

Finally, this morning, they both appear to be on the upswing. Both have had some food and had lots of Gatorade to drink. I'm off work and can hopefully go back tomorrow. We are all praying that I don't get this horrible bug. And I'm praying you don't either.

I must go. My hands are so cracked from sanitizer that I bought some gloves to clean with while I was at Target. The cleaning is calling me...

A pic of my sick ones yesterday:

Duck Saga-Part Dos

Eight eggs now people. Eight.

Tonight on my way in the door I noticed this other duck approaching what I now refer to as "our" nest. I told this stranger duck to "shoo, go on, get away." Momma duck, who is sitting on her eggs, looks at me and quietly chirps. Not quacks, this is, after all, a mutant duck that swims in a retention pond.

Mommy duck looks at me, looks at the other duck and chirps again. I say, "OHHH, is this their daddy? Do you want him here? I see. Well, okay."

She chirps again and looks away.

I realize I just had a conversation with a duck.

And after the crazy day with some of my hospice patients, I decided it was the most logical conversation I'd had all day.

The saga of a Duck-Part 1

Tuesday morning I walked to the house after a long day at work. I noticed an egg laying just inside the mulch right beside our front door. We have dozens of ducks in our neighborhood who enjoy splashing in the retention pond down the street. This is clearly a duck egg. Why on earth would that stupid duck lay an egg here? We are in and out of this door all the time. Our dogs look out this window and bark like crazy at the ducks. Why here?

Wednesday morning. Two eggs.

Thursday morning. Three eggs...and the duck. I drop stuff on the sidewalk. I make noise. I stare at the eggs. I try my best to communicate this is not a good place for a nest. The duck simply stares at me. "Why here?" I ask her...no response.

Friday morning. Four eggs.

Friday night. We have company, several couples from our church are coming over for dinner. Each couple is greeted by two ducks in our front yard doing the urban duck love dance. Great.

Saturday morning. Five eggs.

How many eggs do mutant ducks lay? I have no idea. But, I'm pretty sure we'll find out by Easter.